So the first ranking tournament is well on its way now as we enter day 5 of the Belfast event and into the 16 we go.

Ronnie can think himself lucky to progress through after trailing 4-2 to Ken Doherty but winning 3 on the bounce to go through 5-4.

So far players that caught my eye include;

Liang Wenbo: He qualified for the event by disposing of David Roe 5-0. Went on to beat the resurgent Steve Davis in the first round then thrashed the well fancied Peter Ebdon 5-0 on Tuesday to set up a last 16 tie with John Higgins.

Wenbo became a household name when reaching the last 8 of the Worlds last season. After numerous 'incidents' in the build up he fast became a well liked figure on the circuit.

He is on the easier side of the draw and if he progresses today is likley to face Maguire, Mark Allen and then either Ronnie or Ali Carter in the final.

Outright betting:

Wenbo at 20/1, Ryan Day at 14/1 & Ali Carter at 16/1 3 * £10 singles.

Match betting 28/08

Mark Allen (NI) v Mark Williams (Wal)

Mark Selby (Eng) v Ian McCulloch (Eng)

Ali Carter (Eng) v Mark Davis (Eng)

Ryan Day (Wal) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)

All 4 to win their matches today.

4 * £1 trebles
1 * £1 fourfold

Players outside the top 16 who are expected to make a big impact this year;

Jamie Cope

Currently number 19 in the world rankings. Big break builder and made a 147 in the 2006/07 grand prix event in Aberdeen. Also, one of the only players to have made a witnessed 155 break.

Mark Allen

Ok - so not strictly out of the top 16 as he has been given a Worl Ranking of 16 for 2007/08. He is from a snooker mad family with his wife being the world ladies number 1. Reached the semi final of the N Ireland trophy last year and it would not be a surprise to see him go one further this season.

Judd Trump

World ranking: 41

This youngster has been spoken of as one of the sports most exciting prospects. He really came on the world map when he banged in a maximum in Leicester when only 14 years old. Breaking records has become a regular thing for Judd as he is the youngest player to play in Sheffield and the youngest player in 18 years to qualify for the final stages of a ranking event.

Michael Holt

2008/09 World Ranking: 34

Apparantly very much of a confidence player. When things go well he can be unstoppabe, when things go bad he tends to fold all to easily. A very flamboyant personality has brought him his critics and has faced the disciplinary committee more than once. If he keeps his temper in check he has all the right tools to cause some real shocks this season.

Scott Mackenzie

2008/09 World Ranking: 71

OK dont get me wrong. Scott will not be winning any titles in the near future. In fact, at 28 many people may think he has probably reached his peak and has missed his chance to establish himself as a top 32 player. I think not. Scott seems to have got better and better as the seasons go buy.

Last season was Scotts best to date. It was topped off by a 9-0 whitewash of Michael Holt in the first round of the UK Championship. I hope to see more of Scott this season and I will be backing him at big prices to score a few victories and even secure a seat at Sheffield come April.

Although no return from this first tournament of the season, I am fairly happy my my selections.

Ali Carter was a nats pube away from reaching the fianal whereby I am confident he would have brushed Dave Harold aside.

Mark Allen done OK. He reached the last 8 and can take heart from this and go on for the rest of the season.

Next up is the Shanhai Masters qualyfying which runs from tomorrow to Friday at Pontins, Prestatyn. My thoughts on this to follow.

Keep posting your thoughts on this thread Haitch as the season progresses. You seem to have a bit of knowledge on Snooker and your opinions are a good read

Today is the final day of qualifying for the Shanghai open.

Firstly, let me update you on how my 5 to follow have got on.

Jamie Cope

He only has to win one round to qualify for the last 32. He plays today against Hamilton's Jamie Burnett. Burnett beat Rob Milkins 5-0 to set up this clash (Rob Milkins had won his previous two rounds before getting hammered 5-0).

This is not going to be easy for my selection but will hopefully cope (sorry!) with the pressure and will come out on top of this evenly contested match up.

Mark Allen

Similarly to Jamie Cope, Mark only has to win one round in order to get his ticket to Shanghai. His match looks like it will be against Liang Wenbo of China. Liang became a household name last year when he reached the Quarters of the World Champs in sheffield.

Interestingly, Wenbo still has to beat Atthasit Mahitthi of Thailand before setting up his clash with Mark. The organisers have decided to hold the 2 potential qualys for Liang to be played just before the competition starts at the end of Sep.

Obviously, Liang will be desperate to qualify for his home nations ranking event and will prove a very difficult test for Mark. However, mark has all the weapons in his armoury to beat Liang and if he does it will be the confidence builder to set the rest of his season upon.

Judd Trump

The young exciting Judd Trump has already disposed of the wionner of two earlier rounds Andy Lee. This sets up todays final round with Joe Swail. Judd is on the up and Joe is on the decline. I am hopeful Judd can get the better today.

Michael Holt

Similar to Judd, Michael has already despatched one player to reach this final round of qualys. Today he is up against the Sherriff of Pottingham ( ) Anthony Hamilton. Should have no reason to fear Anthony as in recent years he has matched Anthony if not bettered him in qualifications.

Scott Mackenzie

Unfortunatly Scott never got into his stride this week. he was knocked out in the first round by Robert Stephen (who Michael holt beat).

So hopefully today we will see Judd Trump, Michael Holt & Jamie Cope all progress to China.

The Shanghai masters kicked off yesterday with the wild card rounds.

2 of my ouitsiders to follow this year have qualified for the first round proper.

Jamie Cope is up against Graeme Dott and will be expecting to set up a second round match with Ali Carter. Even if Jamie could beat Ali he would then likley face Ronnie - so a bad draw has probably put paid on his chances this week.

Mark Allen was knocked out this morning against the fast maturing Liang Wenbo. No shock there really as Liang infront of his home crowd.

Judd Trump is playing 2nd fav for the tournament Mark Selby now. he is currently losing 4-1 (first to 5) so it looks like his interest ends here.

So my pre-seaon bets do not look like performing this week, so wghere does the value bets lie?

Personally I can see an all scottish final. John Higgins v Stephen Hendry.

First of Stephen Hendry, he has arguably the easiest route through to the quarters where he will likley meet Ding Junhui. Ding has not rediscovered the form from 2 seasons ago and is very septical to being bullied and frustrated when things do not go right. Stephen is the man for playing this to his advantage and I cans ee his professionalism being enough to take him through to the semis. Here he will face either Mark Selby or Shaun Murphy. Stephen can beat either or can be beaten. I think his determanation and the fact that he knows time is running out for him will be enough to spur him on. Stephen will have the fans behind him and that will make a change these days. A good solid performance and I would not be surprised to see Stephen in the final come Saturday.

As for John Higgins well he is already under way. He is curently 3-1 up on Tom Ford in the first round. Assuming he progresses, he will face Ryan Day. Never an easy match against Ryan but again will be the more experienced player and that should count for a lot in the unusual surroundings in Shanghai. Next up in the quarters is another tough opponent in Stephen Maguire. Maguire let a 4-0 lead slip in the second round last year to lose 5-4 to Matthew Stevens. he later complained about the cuisine that had not agreed with him... hopefully more discomforts will follow this year for him! Then into the semi's with Ronnie - obviously a tough game but I always feel he has the better of Ronnie mentally so would not be surprised for him to go all the way.

I apologise for this late update and the outright prices are probably no longer available, however, I suggest the following.

0.5 Pts e/w on Jamie Cope 33's ish
1.5 Pts e/w on Stephen Hendry 25's ish
1.5 Pts e/w on John Higgins 8's ish

I will update the prices at lunch.

I'm on Mark King today at 4/6 against Jimmy White.

I assume the prices are so close because White has been playing a lot and winning in the qualifiers, and might catch King a bit cold. Still makes way too many errors he didn't make 10 years ago though, and I think 4/6 will look a big price afterwards. We shall see.

H_B that is a sound bet. As much as we all would like Jimmy to win he has not won a ranking match for a long time. Him just getting to the finals is a great achievement.

Mark King beats Jimmy 5-4. Well done on your bet H_B.

Hendry is out. loses 5-4 to Ricky Walden.

I seen that on the BBC website earlier, my initial reaction was 'who?'

So is this Cope boy well fancied tomorrow then? He is sitting at roughly 8/13 on Betfair right now.

Cope is the real deal. He stands a good chance to mix it with the best. I strongly fancy him to beat Dott tomorrow but the best I can see on betfair now is 1.65 (not quite the 8/13 but close).

My money is on Ali Carter to beat Williams tomorrow morning (8.00). Stuck up £15 at 1.79 - waiting to be matched.

The problem is there is no liquidity on betfair anymore

My other 1st round match fancies tomorrow are:

Day to beat Wenbo
Cope to beat Dott
Bingam to beat Ebdon
Hamilton to beat Fu
Ding to beat Harold
Maguire to beat Hawkins
Murphy to beat Hicks

I'm heading to the SECC tomorrow to watch Stephen Hendry, 13:00... anyone else going?

As this is a FA cup still draw (i.e. not seeded) there is a great chance of an outsider making the frame.

I have backed:

Ryan Day at 27 (great form)
Jamie Cope at 32 (knocked in a 147 lto & bye in 1st round)
Ali Carter at 34 (better than odds suggest)
Judd Trump at 34 (form)
Stephen Hendry 34 (legend, still got a win in him)
Michael Holt at 150 (will get a tourn win at some point)

Sorry for not elaborating but I am tired / drunk.

All 4 go this week in the World Grand Priz. Fingers crossed one of them make it all the way. Also note, Jamie Cope knocked in another max last week in China. The man is on fire and could make the current 32 available on betfair a bit of a steal. Get on.

Update 13/10

Ryan Day beats Ricky Walden 5-4, through to second round
Jamie Cope, currently playing Stephen maguire, (wins 5-1) !!!
Ali carter, plays tomorrow against dave harold
Judd Trump, bye thanks to Graham Dott's broken arm
Stephen hendry hrough after beating Dave Gilbert 5-4
Michael Holt, through after beating Mark Allen 5-1

After coming back from Carter's match last night I am pretty pleased with how the results have gone so far.

Ryan Day will play Jamie Cope in the QF. That will mean one of my tips will be in the semis.

Ali Carter will take on Steve Davis and will be red hot fav after dumping out JP last night 5-0. Should be two in the semi's.

Judd Trump is up against Ronnie today and well someones got to beat him. Wouldnt it be great for me if Judd does it to give me 3 players in the semi's...

In all honesty, Judd is young and carefree. He is very attacking and does not play like he is under any pressure. This will be a close game imo.

Well played Judd.

So the semis will line up as follows:

John Higgins v Judd Trump (backed at 34)
Ryan Day (backed at 32) v Ali Carter (backed at 34)

I think It will be Higgins v Day tomorrow in the final.

Snooker: UK Championships

(Sat 13th December - Sun 21st December) Constant live coverage behind the red button on bbc interactive.

One of my favourite tournaments of the calander. Right from the off, the matches are best of 17 (first to 9). This usually means good matches where the better player provails.

Last year was all about Ronnie. He swept through the rounds winning 47 frames and conceeding only 20. Averaging a 9-4 scoreline throughout the tournament.

First round match beting;

Martin Gould v Shaun Murphy - Martin seems to be a late developer and at the age of 27 has yet to progress past the last 32 of any ranking tournament. To qualify for this years UK Champs he has come through 3 qualifiers and has set up a 1st round match with Shaun Murphy. Shaun has recently gone through a divorce and it has been reported that it would be of no surprise if his focus is not at it's best. I will be looking to back Martin Gould to beat Murphy in the 1st round.

Joe Swail v John Higgins - Joe is a player who blows very hot and cold. We seem to have caught him at a bad time and has not won a single tournament match at 4 attempts. John on the other hand is fresh from the victory in Glasgow in October and will make short work of his first round match.

Joe Perry v Mark Davis - Joe must be wondering what he is doing differently know as opposed to the previous 17 years he has spent as a pro. He is certainly going through a purple patch and is provisionally in the top 8. Winning matches seem to be a regular thing these days and Mark will find it very tough to stop him adding to his list of victories.

Ali Carter v Ian McCulloch - Ian has no form under his belt this season and to me it looks as if Ali only need turn up to progress. Definatley one for the acca.

Mark King v Judd Trump - This young lad will win you money if you back him over the next couple of seasons. He has a tournament win in his sight and he will feed of the confidence of beating Ronnie at the SECC a couple of months back. Mark will come into this game with his usual complacency and Judd will provide him with an early exit.

1st round acca:

Martin Gould
John Higgins
Joe Perry
Ali Carter
Judd Trump

I dont have any odds at the moment and these are my early 1st round predictions. Will update with odds later tonight or tomorrow.

You seem to know your stuff on the snooker front, so will probablly follow you over the following week or so....

Keep me posted!

What he said!

I have added the best combined odds above in brackets, that is Boylesports which offers £14.79 from a £1.
The best of the big 3 is £13.16 for a £1 at Hills

Thanks for the prices cdisaccies - will post up my outright picks later tonight.

ryan day is in the other half of the draw from o sullivan and is 20/1is worth a pound ew

Anyone been gambling on this tourney so far? I backed John Higgins at 4/6 against Ding. Currently 4-1 up .

I've got a fiver on Mark Williams to come back and beat Graeme Dott 9-7 @ 7/1

Any of you read the "daily ranger" today??

There was an article relating to match fixing in the Maguire v Burnett game.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/snooker...86908-20974520/

Thoughts?

Seems dodgy to me...............

it will seem even dodgier if you see the black burnett misses at 8-3 to win the frame lol

Yea I aint seen the shot but sounds like it was quite poor.............

Ronnies out!

Ronnie chucked it.

Hi.

It's consummate.